Addressing Climate Change
Konica Minolta's Approach
Key Measures
To achieve Carbon Minus status, it is necessary to accelerate both the reduction of CO2 emissions in the product lifecycle, which is the manufacturer’s responsibility, and the contribution to CO2 emissions reduction by its customers and business partners, which is outside the scope of the company’s responsibility.
Konica Minolta believes that the use of digital transformation (DX) can dramatically reduce CO2 emissions from both sources.
In-House Initiatives
1. Green Factory Activities
We have been conducting Green Factory activities for more than 10 years. In the Sustainable Factory Certification System, a program conducted during the medium-term business plan from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2022, all major production sites achieved their numerical targets. In the medium-term environmental plan covering fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025, we will continue to implement the Green Factory Certification System, accelerate environmental impact and cost reduction efforts that have been promoted so far, and also will create factories that contribute to sustainable growth by addressing the growing social demand for renewable energy and CSR procurement.
| Raw material production site | Assembly/high load site | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Impact reduction Environmental impact reduction standards to be achieved by Konica Minolta production sites* |
CO2 emissions | 3% reduction annually through energy conservation (9% over 3 years) | 2% reduction annually through energy-conservation activities (6% over 3 years) |
| Discharge volume | 2% reduction annually (6% over 3 years)* | 2% reduction annually (6% over 3 years)* | |
| Guideline Standards for biodiversity and other initiatives to be pursued by Konica Minolta production sites |
Guideline compliance status | Complying with guidelines on items such as:
|
|
- *
- Targets set for activities to reduce and recycle industrial waste from products that use plastic, including the reduction of plastic waste at major sites in Japan, based on the Plastic Resource Circulation Act enacted in Japan.
2. Expand renewable energy-derived electricity use
Konica Minolta has been promoting the switch to renewable energy sources, mainly at its overseas bases, including five manufacturing sites in China, Malaysia, the U.S. and France, and sales bases in Europe, the United States, and spanning 13 countries.. Ahead of fiscal 2025, Konica Minolta will consider the optimal methods for each region globally, and reinforce its initiatives to expand the procurement of power derived from renewable energy sources.
Initiatives Carried Out with Suppliers
1. Carbon Neutral Partner Activities
In order to collaborate with even more business partners in our ongoing Green Supplier activities, Konica Minolta launched the Carbon Neutral Partner Certification System in June 2021. We will dramatically reduce CO2 emissions across the entire supply chain by leveraging technology and sharing the energy conservation and renewable energy knowledge and expertise developed by Konica Minolta with our business partners. We now provide digital tools for factory energy diagnostic activities, which were previously performed in person by experts, making it possible to efficiently support the environmental activities of a larger number of suppliers by having their factories carry out all the steps from diagnosis to identification of issues and implementation of measures on their own. This digitalization has allowed the Company to support a total of 50 suppliers to date.
Initiatives Carried Out with Customers
1. Green Products Activities
The Green Products Certification System was launched in fiscal 2011. With the new System, criteria are established for different businesses and product characteristics with respect to certification standards for environmental issues that Konica Minolta seeks to help solve. Successful products are certified at one of three levels, based on the degree of achievement. Konica Minolta will further reduce the environmental impact for which it is directly responsible by creating solutions that solve society’s environmental issues through its products and services.
Not only does this system raise the energy conservation of its products and cut CO2 emissions during customer use, it supports customers’ business by providing products and services that transform production processes through the digital on-demand printing of packages, labels, and textiles providing solutions for various industries and promoting customers’ DX, while also helping to reduce environmental impact through process transformation.
Green Products Certification System
2. Environment Digital Platform
In fiscal 2020, Konica Minolta launched the Environment Digital Platform, an ecosystem for environmental management. Konica Minolta and participating companies share and build up their environmental knowledge and expertise and co-create new value, which will enhance environmental management efficiency. This ecosystem will lead to dramatic increases Konica Minolta’s contribution to and effectiveness in reducing environmental impact. The program started with 15 participating companies, and this number had already increased to 85 by the end of May 2024. This unique approach to co-creation is expected to keep expanding, going forward.
